After-hours pullback leaves QQQ down 0.31% as SPY ends nearly flat

QQQ fell 0.31% and SPY slipped 0.05%, leaving SPY ahead by 0.26 percentage points. Both gained during the regular session before turning lower after hours. Nvidia earnings and guidance, Williams’s rate-path remarks, and U.S.-EU trade and industrial-policy news shaped the day’s context.

Published Aug 31, 2026

QQQ: -0.31%
SPY: -0.05%
QQQ − SPY: -0.26%

What shaped the session

Nvidia after hours

Nvidia beat second-quarter EPS and revenue estimates, issued a third-quarter sales range around consensus, and outlined conditional H20 revenue. During after-hours trading, QQQ fell 0.50 percentage points from the session start to its final level, compared with a 0.28-point decline for SPY.

Fed rate path

New York Fed President John Williams said rates could be reduced while policy remained restrictive, every meeting was live, and inflation and labor-market risks were more balanced. He separately described inflation progress as slow and tariff effects as difficult to isolate.

Trade and industrial policy

The EU reportedly moved to accelerate removal of tariffs on U.S. industrial goods. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also said the United States was exploring stakes in other strategic industries while excluding Nvidia.

Key news

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←Aug 26:QQQ and SPY rise about 0.5% as data, Fed governance and trade share focus·View all August 2025 QQQ/SPY reviews·Aug 28:QQQ gains 0.55% and leads SPY as data, retail and chip-policy news share focus→